The conventional wisdom around major software releases tends to be that they provide some measure of movement to customers (and their service providers) to do migration projects, sell licenses, and in general, make more significant changes to the environment. New OS releases are like spring cleaning events. It's a great time to take inventory and make changes. This is exactly what happened with Windows 7.
On the heels of a lackluster Vista OS, many businesses had spent years running outdated operating systems as they waited for a reason to upgrade to whatever Microsoft came up with next. When Windows 7 was launched, back in 2009, the product manager from Microsoft delivered the keynote to MSPWorld in Las Vegas that year and announced to the MSP leadership how Windows 7 would provide an opportunity for those MSPs to make money and improve customer environments. I'm not sure Windows 8 will have the same effect.
After speaking with a handful of MSPs, the consensus seems to be that Windows 8 will not be a significant agent of change for MSPs; more importantly, they report that customers are just not interested in Windows 8 as a technology. That got my attention. Here's why the MSPs believe the new OS won't make a big impact in 2013.
- MSPs report customers aren't excited about the Windows 8 changes
- The new GUI may be "too different" for the corporate user
- economy was not cited as a reason for lower expectations, but I have to think that customers are inherently worried about the regulatory and taxation environment (across many countries) and therefore use this as a reason why not to invest in new software
- Training and adoption of a radically new OS may be trouble for corporate users looking to avoid unnecessary additional costs
- Desktop as a Service models are revolutionizing the market and finally becoming available to even the smallest MSPs. MSPs will likely push this technology first, over a new OS.
Ultimately, I believe private cloud solutions like VDI, DaaS, and other related technologies are erasing the traditional software/hardware upgrade cycles and allowing MSPs and their customers to experiment more on "non-traditional" models of lifecycle management. MSPs will push Windows 8, I'm sure. Will customers buy? Only time will tell.
